Is Sugar Toxic?

In light of yesterday’s post about the dangers of poor diet and the effect on health costs and, therefore, the national debt, I want to pass along an article from the NY Times Magazine entitled Is Sugar Toxic? It makes the case that sugar consumption drives the liver to convert fructose into fat, leading to insulin resistance. Insulin is released after meals to keep blood sugar level under control. If cells become resistant, the pancreas must release more leading to “pancreatic exhaustion.” At this point, the blood sugar rises out of control leading to diabetes. Worse, if the pancreas releases too much insulin into the body, it can promote tumor growth leading to cancer.

The article is careful to not that many of these results are compelling, but inconclusive. At very least, it should give sugar consumers pause, and potentially give doctors (and government?) another target in protecting people from diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and now, perhaps, cancer.

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About Me

Hi, I’m Mike Specian. I am currently a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow hosted at the U.S. Department of Energy. This site is a repository for things that matter to me including science, energy, climate, public policy, and photography from around the world. You can follow me on Twitter, through an RSS feed or by subscribing to email updates below.